Family Life
by LittleRose13
Summary: After a long year of chasing Horcruxes, losing loved ones and just fighting to survive, Harry faces a new task: Parenthood.   A series of one-shots about the new generation of Weasley and Potter children. Mainly focuses on Ginny and Harry's children.
1. Hedwig The Second

_25th December, 2010_  
_Potter household_

"Has Father Christmas been, Mummy?" five year old James asked innocently, running into the kitchen, his brother and sister close behind him.

"Well, I _think_ I heard someone coming down the chimney last night." Ginny replied to her three children. Albus' eyes shone with a delight and excitement that only a four year old could manage as James darted towards the living room.

"Father Christmas came down the chimney?" Albus asked, astounded.

"Yep." Harry put in. "That's how he gets in to deliver your presents."

Albus' mouth became a little o of wonder then changed to confusion. "But how does he fit?"

"It's magic!" little Lily exclaimed and Albus giggled.

"Come on, slowcoaches!" James yelled from the living room door. Lily attempted to run towards him to prove that she wasn't a slowcoach, her face alive with excitement. Al followed at a slower pace.

James carefully eased the door open a crack and peered round. The little family made their way into the living room, following James.

"What's he left for you?" Harry asked his children in an enthusiastic voice, watching their faces at the contents of the room. Two toy broomsticks lay side by side next to a miniature trampoline with a handle.

"Broomsticks and a trampoline!" Albus proclaimed loudly gazing at them in delight but not daring to go closer. It was little Lily who decided that it was time to test out her Christmas present. She ran forwards in her pink pyjamas and threw herself onto the small trampoline, clinging onto the handle and bouncing repeatedly. Harry and Ginny exchanged looks of relief; they had been worried that Lily would be indignant at not receiving a broomstick too.

Following their sister's lead, James and Albus both picked up their toy broomsticks, examining them from every angle. Just as James tried to mount his, Harry took his arm to stop him.

James looked up at his father, offended. "You can try them out later, when we've cleared a space." Harry told him and James looked as if that was the answer he had expected.

"So do you think Father Christmas couldn't fit these in your stockings?" Ginny asked her children. James and Albus laughed but Lily cried "Nooo!" not understanding the joke.

She was still on the trampoline and, as she leaned over the handle bar, she spotted the large pile of Christmas presents stacked under the tree.

"Ooh there's presents there, look everybody!" Lily stated, the trampoline now forgotten.

"Yes, those are your Christmas presents." Ginny said.

"Can we open them now?" James asked politely and Albus nodded.

"Of course we can." said Harry. "See if you can find one with your name on it." He said, really talking to his two sons as he was certain that, at two and a half, Lily couldn't recognise her name yet and would need help with reading the labels.

Lily herself obviously saw no problem as she immediately dived for the pile of presents, grabbing the first one she came to. "That says Lily!" she announced carrying it over to the small coffee table in the centre of the room.

"I will open it up." She told the room at large whilst trying to find a way to get into the paper with her small hands.

"Does it say Lily?" Harry asked his small daughter while he helped Albus open his first present. She reacted by putting her hands on her hips and giving her father an indignant look.

"Yes it does!" she replied. Harry looked at Ginny who proceeded to check the label of the gift Lily was attempting to open.

"No it doesn't." She told her daughter, unsurprised. "That one says James. Let's see if we can find one with your name on." And she took her daughter's hand intending to help her find one of her own presents. But Lily didn't want to be helped and once again picked up the first present she could see.

"I'll have this one!" she stated, carrying it towards her mother. "This one says Lily."

Ginny checked the label. "That one says James as well." She was struggling not to laugh at her daughter's expression of stubbornness.

"Cool, a toy wand!" James shouted, waving it triumphantly above his head and watching harmless, coloured sparks fly from the tip. He had just opened the first present Lily had insisted was hers. Lily watched him glumly.

"This one's for you Lily." Albus said quietly, holding out a neatly wrapped package to his sister. He had just opened a set of Quidditch action figures and was inspecting them proudly.

"Thanks, Al." Lily whispered and her parents looked at each other shocked that she had thanked him without the usual prompt of 'What do you say?'.

She held the present in her hands, looking at in awe.

"Let's see the label." Harry said, gently turning it towards him while still in his daughter's hands. "For Lily." He read out. "To wish you a happy Christmas, with lots of love from Grandma Molly and Granddad Arthur."

Lily looked gleeful and she took the present from her father's hand, showing it to the whole room. "This is from Grandma Molly and Granddad Arthur!" she announced proudly, holding it high above her head.

Her parents exchanged amused looks while her brothers looked up momentarily before looking back at their own presents. Albus had just discovered he had also been given a toy wand and Harry wondered how long it would be before they had to enforce strict rules on the use of the wands.

James unwrapped a knitted red jumper with a golden snitch stitched onto the front, his expression torn between excitement and disgust at the present. "Do I have to wear it?" he asked his mother pleadingly.

"You have to wear it when we all go to The Burrow this afternoon. After that it's your choice." Ginny laughed at her son's look of relief. "But Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Grandma Molly's Weasley jumpers."

Harry laughed as he spotted two squashy packages in the same wrapping paper with his and Ginny's names on. Apparently you were never too old for a Weasley jumper.

After Albus opened his own jumper (green with a picture of a broomstick on the front), the family realised Lily had still not managed to open her first present that she had been so happy to receive. Her little hands scrabbled at the paper before Harry took pity on her and tore the corner off to get her started.

She ripped the paper off surprisingly carefully and looked at what was inside. "Wow!" Lily said, holding the gift up so everyone could see.

Instead of a knitted Christmas jumper, Lily held a small, stuffed, knitted toy owl. It had snow white wings and a little orange beak, complete with plastic eyes and little claws at the bottom. Harry had a sneaking suspicion as to where the inspiration of this owl had come from to Mrs Weasley.

"Isn't that lovely Lily?" Ginny asked her daughter who looked overjoyed and hugged the little toy.

"Hey Dad, it looks like your owl from when you were at school!" James cried, remembering a picture he'd seen in the photo album of Harry, Ron and Hermione in their first year accompanied by Hedwig.

"I think you're right there James." Harry told his son.

"Daddy what was your owl's name?" Lily asked innocently.

"She was called Hedwig." Harry told her from where he was still sat under the Christmas tree next to Albus.

"Hedwig." Lily tested the name out in her little voice. "Then I'm going to call my owl Hedwig too." She said simply and ran around the room making Hedwig 'fly' behind her.

And Harry thought it odd that, back at the start of the war when he had been so devastated at Hedwig's death, he had no idea that he would one day be watching his two year old daughter run around with a knitted replica of his beloved owl.


	2. The Bench

It all started the summer before Teddy set off for his first year at Hogwarts. The family had decided to have a big get together to see him off and it just sort of became an annual event. No one had ever said it was; everyone just knew that on the last weekend of the summer holidays, the whole Weasley/Potter family (plus Teddy) would descend on The Burrow.

Molly of course, loved it. Having her now slightly empty house bustling with so many children at once made her swell with pride at the grandchildren her children had given her. It was her who had first whipped out a camera and insisted on an entire group shot. In the end, she'd been backed all the way down the garden trying to fit everyone in so it was decided that just the children should gather for a photograph first.

James, who was very nearly five, sat proudly next to his favourite cousin Fred aged six. Three year old Albus sat next to his brother, gazing at baby Lily who rested in James' arms. James looked delighted at being allowed to hold his baby sister.

Dominique (aged four) and Molly (aged five) sat beside each other on the other side of Fred each with their own two year old sat on their laps; Lucy on Molly's and Roxanne on Dominique's. Rose sat with her legs dangling from the bench, her one year old brother Hugo perched on her knee and Victoire, who was nine, sat on Albus' other side holding her newborn brother Louis and grinning at eleven year old Teddy.

From then on, it became a tradition that the picture be taken with near enough the same line up and Molly had every single one lined up along her mantelpiece. It was amusing to look through them and see how much the kids had changed.

For example, in the photo taken four years later, five year old Lily had refused to sit on James' lap and insisted on sitting with Teddy instead. This wouldn't have been a problem if she hadn't decided this as the photo was being taken therefore that year's picture showed Lily mid way through falling off James and diving for Teddy while all the other kids smiled, oblivious.

Then the following year, Albus and James had had a falling out over whose turn it had been on their shared toy broomstick (Harry now wishes they had thought to bring both of their brooms to The Burrow). They are both glaring fiercely at each other in the photo, slightly spoiling the serene smiles of their cousins.

Another year, Hugo had decided to display his first signs of magic by managing to turn his own hair blue. He wouldn't allow his mother to fix it insisting he was like Teddy and loved it. It eventually wore off but not before the annual photo had been taken depicting six year old Hugo with bright blue hair; which slightly stole the focus from the rest of the picture.

But every single member of the family says their favourite is the one which was taken just before Lily and Hugo were about to go into their fifth year at Hogwarts. The kids had decided it would be fun to try and recreate exactly the original photo.

Albus, James and Fred squeezed onto the end of the bench they always took the photo on while Lily, laughing hysterically, balanced herself onto James' lap.

"Now you have to do the faces." She insisted, still laughing. "James, you have to look really pleased to be holding me and Al, you have to look like you've never seen me before now." There was no doubt that Lily had inherited her Mother's temper and naturally took charge of the others.

Her eighteen year old brother looked bemused as he watched his little sister ordering everyone around from his lap.

Dominique and Molly took the remaining space on the bench deliberately making it clear that they had to peer round Lucy and Roxanne's heads to be seen by the camera. The two sixteen year olds rolled their eyes at each other but everyone knew they loved it really.

Realising there was no room left on the bench, Rose and a very pregnant Victoire perched themselves on the arms of the bench; the latter being supported heavily by a beaming Teddy.

"I don't think I'll be able to hold Louis in this one." Victoire said, looking doubtfully at her fourteen year old brother. He and Hugo caught each others' eyes and grinned, settling for standing next to their sisters rather than on top of them.

"Everyone smile!" Lily commanded as her grandmother took several pictures, tears of laughter running down her face. The adults all looked on fondly at their children smiling proudly around at each other.

Then, before anyone knew what was happening, one of the bench legs collapsed just as Molly clicked the shutter. After dusting themselves off and a lot of laughing, Molly presented them with the last photo she had taken, smiling broadly.

In it, Rose, who had been nearest the end which collapsed, was on the floor laughing where Hugo had managed to catch her. Lucy and Roxanne had simply stood up when the bench broke leaving poor Molly to slide down the bench, Dominique right behind her.

Albus had grabbed the arm rest next to him and gripped it tightly, a shocked look on his face. Louis, unaffected because of his location, looked on at the scene laughing while Teddy instinctively placed a protective hand over his wife's baby bump.

But James and Lily were the funniest sight.

Lily had sat bolt upright on top of James and grabbed her older brother round his neck looking absolutely terrified and staring straight at the camera. James was also clinging to Lily, obviously unaware of his expression which was a mixture of shock and fear. Compared to everyone else, who had managed to remain relatively calm, they looked as if they were deliberately being dramatic which James tried to insist for a bit before giving in.

They claimed they were at just the point on the bench for it to feel like an earthquake.

Their cousins still tease them about Killer Garden Benches.


	3. A Day With Daddy

_6th May, 2012  
Potter household_

"I'm spending the day with Daddy." Lily said in a sing song voice to her two older brothers. She was very excited as she had rarely had time with her father all to herself in her four short years.

"So? You can see Dad any old time Lily." James piped up and Al nodded along, wanting to be like his brother. "_We're_ going to play with Fred at Uncle George's _and_ Teddy might be coming too!" James added excitedly.

"Oh!" Lily wailed. "I want to see Teddy! That's not fair..." she trailed off tearfully and Al decided the best thing to do would be to try and make his sister feel better with a hug.

As Lily prised Al's arms from around her neck still sulking, Harry entered the living room smiling at his three children.

"Hey boys, looking forward to going to Uncle George's?" he asked his sons whilst opening the curtains.

"Yes!" Al said enthusiastically and James nodded. Lily looked glum and Harry walked over to her. He picked her up, swinging her effortlessly onto his hip.

"And you, Lily Petal, get to spend the day with your favourite Daddy." He watched Lily's tiny face screw up as she considered if this was true and he really was her favourite. He tickled her and she squirmed, laughing.

"You're my only Daddy, Daddy." She laughed at the repeated word, all jealousy of her brother's plans forgotten. "You can still be my favourite though." Harry smiled at his daughter.

"James, Al, Mum wants to leave in ten minutes at the most so make sure you have anything you want to bring ready to go." Harry knew this meant specific toys so his two sons and Fred could have an elaborate game combining all their toys.

The two young boys ran from the room, racing each other upstairs to their own bedrooms. Lily looked at her father questioningly.

"What are we going to do today Daddy?" she asked innocently. Harry looked blank. He had got as far as deciding to spend the day with his daughter while Ginny went to visit George and took the boys with her but not thought about how he would entertain his four year old for the entire day.

Realising Lily was still gazing at him wanting an answer, Harry acted like he had had something planned all along. He didn't want to disappoint his daughter after all. "We're going flying, Lily."

Her little brown eyes widened. "Real flying Daddy? On a broomstick?"

"Well you'll be on my broomstick, with me." And he placed her on the floor as she struggled to get down from his arms.

As soon as she touched the floor, she sprinted up the stairs shouting "I'm going to go and get dressed right now so I'm ready!" as she went. Harry sighed, wondering what he had let himself in for as James and Albus came back down the stairs, their arms laden with toys.

"You can't take all of those!" he said exasperated seeing Ginny appear from the kitchen. She laughed, seeing Al peering out from behind the mountain of toys James had obviously made him carry as he had only a few in his own hands.

James considered the toys for a second. "Ok, we'll leave these ones." He placed the three action figures he'd been holding onto the coffee table and ran from the room calling to Al to follow him. Al gave his dad a confused look and started to rush off after James whilst still carrying the pile of toys.

"Al, wait!" Ginny followed him and relieved him of the toys as Harry laughed.

Lily came bounding back down the stairs wearing a navy blue jumper with a large yellow L on the back; it was supposed to be on the front. She had matched it with a too-big pair of jeans that appeared to belong to Al and odd socks. Her whole appearance gave the distinct impression that she had chosen the first clothes she had come across.

"I'm ready Daddy! Let's go flying." She took hold of Harry's hand and attempted to pull him towards the front door of the house.

"Ok, Lils we're not going flying right now. Just wait ok?" he told her and she scowled, folding her arms.

"Lily what on Earth are you wearing?" Ginny asked, looking amused as she re-entered the room carrying a Tornadoes rucksack which now contained all of the toys James and Al had chosen.

"Daddy's taking me flying!" was Lily's response and she threw James a look then stuck her tongue out at him rushing up the stairs again.

"You're taking her flying?" Ginny asked Harry looking mildly surprised. He shrugged in response.

"Good luck." Ginny replied laughing as the two exchanged a look. "Ok boys, are you ready to go?"

James and Al looked up from where they had been silently squabbling over who got to hold the rucksack and immediately ran towards the door clammering for Ginny to open it.

"See you this evening." Ginny pecked Harry on the cheek. "Bye Lily!" she called up the stairs where a scuffle signified Lily running back down the stairs still in her mismatched outfit. She threw herself at Ginny, hugging her around the middle and taking Ginny aback slightly.

"Bye Mummy." She said and released her. "Bye brothers." She added as an afterthought; James and Al hadn't noticed as they were still arguing as they left the house with their mother.

"Time for flying now Daddy?" Lily asked the second the door had shut behind Ginny, James and Al.

"In a minute Lily. How about we get you a drink first?" he suggested partly trying to stall Lily.

She bounded enthusiastically into the kitchen and started trying to reach the handle of the cupboard where the cups were kept.

"Here Lily." Harry intervened taking a cup from the cupboard and placing it on the sideboard. He waved his wand skilfully and a bottle of pumpkin juice emerged and tipped gently into the cup. When it had filled up, Harry placed it in front of where Lily was sat at the kitchen table.

"Thanks Daddy!" Lily said happily, her face shining with excitement at going flying. Suddenly, a loud tapping noise sounded and Harry and Lily both looked up to the window to see what was causing it.

A tawny owl was stood on the window sill rapping sharply on the glass with a scroll tied to its foot. Harry went to open the window and removed the scroll, scanning it quickly as Lily looked at him expectantly from her cup of pumpkin juice.

"Oh no, this is bad." Harry muttered under his breath while Lily watched.

"Daddy?" she asked him.

Harry glanced up at his daughter where she sat innocently waiting for him to answer her. "Lily, how do you feel about coming to work with Daddy today?" he asked, expecting the worst.

"And we can go flying after?" she asked him simply.

"Of course we can." Harry smiled at his young daughter, relieved that she hadn't thrown a tantrum.

"Ok." She said happily as she finished the last of her juice.

"But you'll have to change into some proper clothes before we go." He told her and she gave him a reproachful look but Harry distracted her by picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder whilst running towards the stairs. Lily giggled uncontrollably as Harry ran up the stairs with her over his shoulder and he placed her down on her bedroom floor.

Thinking that it had been quite an efficient method of travel, Harry proceeded to open Lily's small chest of drawers and gestured for her to pick some clothes. He was constantly aware of time however, as he wanted to get into the office as quickly as possible.

Harry had received word that three of his aurors had just caught a man named Angus Dasford who they had been pursuing for some time. He was notorious for claiming to be the reincarnation of Voldemort until the aurors ran into him for the first time and discovered him to be nothing more than a twenty year old man who had a few followers and intended to bring Voldemort's regime back. He had been captured but had escaped whilst being escorted back to The Ministry and was on the auror's hit list.

According to the brief note, he had been spotted trying to get into The Ministry in a disguise but had been caught by some of the best aurors in Harry's team. They were now taking him in for questioning and, being the head of the auror department, Harry needed to be there; even if it was a weekend.

"Can I wear my bridesmaid's dress Daddy?" Lily asked innocently, interrupting his train of thought.

"No you cannot Lily." He reprimanded her. "You can't wear that until Uncle Percy's wedding day. Just pick some normal clothes out." Harry knew much better than to try and choose something for her.

Lily looked into her drawers for a second then chose herself a red pinafore dress with pink tights. Harry decided there wasn't enough time to mention that the colours clashed horribly.

"I can get dressed myself!" she shouted exasperatedly when Harry tried to help her. "I _am _four you know."

After several complaints from Lily, Harry helped her into the pinafore and tights and the two were stood before the fireplace ready to go.

"And what do you have to remember Lily?"

"Don't let go of Daddy's hand no matter what." Lily replied excitedly. It wasn't often she got to travel by floo powder.

Harry took a handful of glittering powder, threw it into the flames which turned emerald and rose up and shouted "The Ministry Of Magic." in a very clear voice as he took hold of Lily's small hand. They span quickly through a rush of emerald and Harry glanced down to check Lily was ok; she had screwed up her face and was clinging to his hand very tightly.

Suddenly, they were expelled into the Atrium of the Ministry which was full of people bustling around and bursting from the fireplaces either side of them. Lily looked around with a horrified expression on her face, taking in the thousands of people filling the huge space and shaking her head slightly to relieve the after effects of flooing. She glanced up at Harry with a tearful look.

Understanding how overwhelming the situation must have been for a four year old, Harry picked Lily up straight away and held her close to him. She nuzzled into his shoulder and clung to his shirt.

"It's ok Lily. Look, we're going into the lift now." He said soothingly to her and stepping into the least crowded lift available. It was still full of people.

Lily raised her head slightly and, obviously deciding it wasn't as scary as she originally thought, contented herself by putting her thumb in her mouth and looking round at the other occupants of the lift.

"Morning Harry. Don't usually see you in on Saturdays." said Seamus Finnigan then he smiled at Lily. "Hello Lily."

Harry looked at Lily and she gave Seamus a small smile before burying her head into her father's shoulder again.

"Something urgent came up that I had to see to; which is why I had to bring Lily with me." Harry explained and several people in the lift gave nods of understanding.

The lift doors slid shut and it began to judder upwards. It didn't stop until it reached Level Five where about half of the people from the lift got out including Seamus.

"See you around Harry, Bye Lily." He waved cheerily as the doors began to close again and Lily obliged with a small wave back then she giggled.

"Daddy are those birds?" she asked in her little voice, catching the attention of the other people in the lift as she pointed enthusiastically at the inter-departmental memos fluttering around the ceiling of the lift.

An older witch who was carrying a large stack of parchment looked at Lily fondly and smiled at Harry. "Isn't she precious?" she asked nobody in particular. Harry smiled uncomfortably; he found it very odd when random people started commenting on his children as if they knew him. It happened surprisingly often.

"Those are memos Lily. People use them to send messages to other people who are on different levels." Harry explained. Lily looked awe struck as she watched the little violet paper aeroplanes soaring in small circles above her.

The lift opened again on Level Three and the witch with the stack of parchment got out. She, like Seamus, turned to wave at Lily as she left the lift. It seemed Lily was a hit with Harry's colleagues.

"Daddy who was that lady?" Lily asked loudly when the witch was barely out of ear shot. A few people in the lift sniggered.

"This is our floor now Lily Petal." Harry said instead of having to answer the question.

They stepped out of the lift into a long and wide corridor and Lily squirmed to be put down, no longer scared of her surroundings but eager to explore them. Harry lowered her to the floor and she sprinted off causing Harry to have to run after her and tell her to slow down.

He guided her around a corner and pushed open a set of oak doors which opened into the Auror Headquarters. Lily stopped in her tracks and was gazing fearfully around at all the new people, some of whom had looked up from their work and were greeting Harry and staring at Lily.

Harry stopped to talk to one of the aurors and Lily hid behind his legs nervously. Then a familiar voice sounded from the other side of the cubicle wall nearest to them and Lily looked up recognising the voice as belonging to Ron. He stood up and, seeing Harry, hurried over to him.

"Great, you made it in too." He spotted Lily hovering next to Harry's leg. "Hey Lily! Hermione's looking after the kids today." He explained to Harry and smiled at Lily. She grinned back at her uncle.

"Ginny's taken the boys to George's so it's just me and Lily today."Harry told him and Lily took it upon herself to climb into the seat at Ron's desk while her father and uncle talked.

"You know, Dasford's disguise was pretty poor today. We saw through it almost immediately."

Harry laughed. "Yeah imagine breaking into the ministry pretending to be someone else." He said sarcastically and Ron laughed too. "He could have at least used Polyjuice."

"What's this Uncle Ron?" Lily piped up from Ron's desk, brandishing a large stapler with a curious expression.

"Lily, don't touch that!" Ron shouted running towards her when the stapler started violently shooting staples out. Lily dropped it instantly and threw her hands over her face.

Harry stared down at the small pile of staples on the floor just feet from his daughter and gaped at Ron.

"I'm trying to fix it." Ron said sheepishly looking slightly shaken. Lily climbed off his desk chair and ran to hide behind Harry's legs again giving the stapler a furtive look where it lay on the desk top.

"Harry, you're here!" a voice said and Dennis Creevey emerged holding a file and looking flustered. As a junior member of the Auror department the situation must have been very hectic. "Dasford's being held downstairs waiting to be questioned . This is the latest information." He gestured to the file.

"Great, thanks Dennis." Harry took the file from him. "How long before we can start questioning him?" Harry asked no one in particular.

"Daddy, when do we get to go home and go flying?" Lily asked from Harry's legs. He looked down at her incredulously.

"Look Lily why don't you sit here and do some drawing." Harry picked her up and lowered her back into Ron's desk chair moving the violent stapler from her reach and placing a blank sheet of parchment in front of her along with a spare quill. She happily took it and started scribbling.

Turning back to where Ron and Dennis had been, Harry was faced with a total of four people from his department as well as somebody who he believed to be from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. The middle of the Auror office seemed to have become the location of an impromptu meeting.

After a long discussion about Dasford and what they were going to do next, the now larger group dispersed and Harry, Ron and Dennis continued discussing the information in the file. Ron suddenly looked worried.

"Harry, where's Lily?" he said with a frightened look on his face, turning his head rapidly from side to side at floor level.

"Ron she's right her-" Harry turned to Ron's desk and his expression switched to one of surprise and fear when he saw an empty chair. "Lily!" he called sounding extremely worried.

He looked under Ron's desk to see if Lily had been hiding as she had been known to do at home but there was no sign for her.

"Where is she?" he said to Ron feeling absolutely terrified.

"She'll be around here somewhere. Come on, I'll help you look." Ron said and he started making his way down the cubicles looking for Lily.

Harry stared for a second before repeating his actions in the opposite direction. Back during the war, when he was searching for Horcruxes and flying dragons and battling Snatchers and Death Eaters and seeing people die around him and facing Voldemort, Harry never would have thought that losing his daughter could instil such fear in him.

After deciding Lily was nowhere to be seen in the Auror office, Harry left through the big oak doors and started trying to think logically about where his daughter could have gone. Ron followed close behind him.

"Ok, I took her in the lift so do you reckon she will have gone back that way?" Harry asked Ron nervously.

"That's likely." Ron replied. "I told Dennis to send a memo straight away if she turns up on this floor." He added.

Harry gave Ron a grateful look as they sped towards the lift and climbed into the first available one.

The lift contained just two other people, neither of whom Harry knew. He stood agitatedly waiting for the lift to move and when it did, he started wondering if he should ask the two strangers if they had seen Lily. Then the lift stopped on the next floor and the doors opened revealing Seamus Finnigan again.

"Hi again Harry. Where's Lily?" he looked around at the floor near Harry's feet.

"Good question." Harry retorted with a sarcastic tone." She's wandered off somewhere. You haven't seen her have you?" After all, was there a chance that Lily could have remembered which floor Seamus had gotten off at and tried to find him?

"No I haven't. But she can't have gone far." He responded giving Harry a sympathetic look; Seamus didn't have any children so Harry had no idea how he could possibly be sympathetic. He expressed these feelings by giving Ron an exasperated look.

"Mate, you'll find her." Seamus said encouragingly but Harry turned to him with a furious look.

"Don't 'mate' me! My daughter's gone missing! She's _four years old_, do you have any idea what could have happened to her? She could be anywhere in the entire ministry and the fact that a notorious dark wizard almost managed to get in here today doesn't exactly fill me with confidence!" he said angrily.

"Ok, look I'll help find her too." Seamus said carefully. "Sorry Harry."

"It's ok. I'm just worried about her." He said quietly.

"I promise you we _will_ find her." Ron said slowly as if talking to a partially deaf person; Harry knew he was trying to calm him down.

The doors of the lift opened once again to the Atrium and Harry looked around at the masses of people desperately hoping to catch a sight of red hair or pink tights.

"Ah, Harry." A deep, slow, calming voice sounded and Harry knew instantly that it belonged to the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Minister? If this is about Dasfor-" Harry stopped when he spotted who was accompanying Kingsley.

It was Lily.

"Oh, hi Daddy." she said casually, her hand swinging from Kingsley's. "What are you doing here?" she added with a curious expression.

"Looking for you!" Harry shouted all ready to reprimand her for wandering off without him and worrying everyone sick. But then the relief at seeing his daughter alive and well after the scare he'd just had took over and he ran to her and lifted her into his arms.

"You gave me quite a fright Lily Petal." He told her in a caring voice then he lowered her to the ground, crouching so he was at her eye level. "You must never wander off without telling Daddy or Mummy where you're going first Lily. Especially in a big place like the ministry; it can be dangerous. You must also never talk to strangers." He added, throwing Kingsley an apologetic look.

"But Mr Shacklebolt isn't a stranger Daddy, he's the mister for magic!" Lily said proudly. "Everyone knows that."

The people nearby laughed quietly at Lily's comment_. _

"Thanks so much for finding her." Harry told Kingsley as Lily started playing with the back of his hair.

"Actually, she found me. Came to my office and everything." Harry, Ron, Seamus and the onlookers all gave Lily a surprised look.

"The pretty bird told me to go there Daddy." And she withdrew a crumpled, violet paper memo from the pocket on the front of her dress.

Harry took it from her gently and read the memo: _Ron, urgent meeting in the minister's office. Third floor, first corridor, second door on the left._

Ron was reading it over his shoulder and he looked amused. "Yeah that memo's from ages ago. I really should clear my desk more often."

"Might be wise Ron." Harry laughed, the situation seeming very amusing now Lily was safe and sound in his arms.

"So can we go flying now Daddy? I've been waiting _ages."_ She whined.

"Straight away Lily Petal. The Dasford situation is under control now." He added to Ron.

"Yes!" Lily shouted triumphantly and she scrambled down from Harry's hip and started rushing towards the nearest fireplace. Harry gave Ron and Seamus an exasperated look before running after her.

"Lily slow down! What did I _just_ tell you about running off?" his voice grew fainter as he chased Lily down the length of the Atrium before finally stopping her and leading her to a fireplace to take her home.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Woo this was the longest Family Life chapter so far! I hope you enjoyed reading it... if so, please let me know in a review! Or even if you didn't enjoy it you can let me know :L  
I have about five half finished chapters of this story which I keep coming back to in the hope that I'll finish them but if anyone has any scenes you'd like to see in this story let me know and they might inspire me!  
Thanks for reading!**

**LittleRose13 xxx**


	4. She's Asleep!

_17th January, 2006_

"Ron, stop being such a baby. You'll be fine." Hermione said exasperated. Ron pouted like a two year old at her before grinning and giving her a kiss on the cheek as she left the house. He then ran full pelt to the fireplace and threw a handful of Floo powder into the flames yelling "Harry and Ginny's" and sticking his head into the emerald flames.

"Gin, you're gonna blow them away. You'll be fine." Harry smiled at his pregnant wife as she prepared to disapparate to the Daily Prophet for her job interview. He briefly kissed her and patted her baby bump as she turned to leave.

"Daddy!" a small voice yelled and Harry looked round to see his two year old son James sitting grumpily in his highchair and squirming to be set free. "Wanna get down!" he cried indignantly.

"Have you eaten all of the banana Mummy gave you?" Harry asked him doubtfully.

"Yes!" James said defensively. He then leaned over his chair to stare at the floor where Harry glanced down to see five slices of banana lying on the floor. His son giggled innocently and Harry picked him up out of the highchair.

"I don't blame you mate." He muttered as he carried James upstairs to get him ready for the day.

Ginny was going to the Daily Prophet that morning to be interviewed for the position of sports columnist. She had retired from her Quidditch career after having James but still wanted to remain in the field. Harry had suggested that maybe she should wait to have their second child before going for the job which he highly regretted halfway through saying it aloud as he was then lectured about feminine empowerment and 'a woman's right to choose'.

Just as Harry was about to place James down on the first step of the staircase, the fireplace expelled emerald flames, signalling that someone was trying to Floo in. A second later, Ron's head appeared looking very panicked.

"Harry! You have to help me, I can't do it on my own. Mione's crazy fo-"

"Woah Ron, slow down. I can't understand a word you're saying. What does Hermione want you to do?" Little James had stopped in awe, gazing at the green flames but the novelty had obviously worn off as he now started forward with his hand out stretched trying to catch the fire.

"No, James." Harry said quickly, grabbing his son round the waist and pulling him onto his lap. James looked up at his father sulkily.

"_That's _what she wants me to do!" Ron said as though it were now obvious.

"Look Daddy, it's Uncle Ron!" James announced.

"That's right James." Harry smiled at his son. "Ron I still have no idea what you're talking about. Do you mean Hermione wants you to stop James from touching the fire?" he asked sarcastically.

"James!" James cried when he heard his name.

"She's gone out and left me to look after Rosie! _Me_, Harry! Me looking after a four month old baby! She must be crazy..." he trailed off into another rant about Hermione's sanity.

"Yeah Ron, what the hell was Hermione thinking expecting you to look after your own _daughter_ for a morning." Harry looked at him sarcastically. "You've taken care of Rose loads of times, Ron. What's the problem?"

"The problem is that I have to do it _on my own_ today! What if she starts crying or something? I never know what she wants to make her happy again. Hermione always deals with that."

"It's sort of parent's instinct. I remember feeling the same when James was first born but you kind of get to know what to do." Harry told him, still holding James tightly so he couldn't go rushing into the fire. Ron looked at them and his face lit up.

"Harry you can come and help me! You know what you're doing with babies and stuff." He gestured to James who was giggling as Harry tickled him.

"Really? You want my help? I'd have to bring James too." Harry said. A look of relief passed over Ron's features.

"Anything's fine. Just please come and help me!"

A faint sound of wailing could be heard and Ron's face paled. "I think she's waking up now Ron." Harry told him unnecessarily. "That means you need to go and see to her." He added when Ron didn't move.

"Right, yes, of course." Ron said looking distracted and giving Harry a pleading look.

"We'll be over in ten minutes ok?" he said exasperated.

"Thanks Harry! You're the best." He smiled, looking relieved and backing his head out of the fire.

Harry looked down at James. "Looks like we're going to Uncle Ron's today Bud." He swung James onto his hip and started up the stairs with him.

"Uncle Ron!" James cried happily. "And Aunty Miney?" he asked, looking at Harry with wide eyes.

"Nope, just Uncle Ron and your baby cousin Rosie." Harry told him. James' mouth turned into a little o of wonder.

"I have baby cousin? James have baby cousin?" James looked amazed at the idea as Harry set him down on his bedroom floor.

"She's your newest cousin. Do you remember visiting her before?" Harry said as he opened the doors to James' wardrobe.

"She my cousin. She mine?" James asked innocently.

Harry laughed. "No James, she belongs to Uncle Ron and Aunty Hermione. She's your little cousin. Her name's Rose."

"Rose." James said, testing the name out loud. Harry dressed him in the first outfit he could find which turned out to be jean dungarees and a tiny t-shirt of the Holyhead Harpies; his mother's old team.

James was too young to be taken by Side-Along Apparation or Floo powder so Harry had to do things the muggle way and strap him into his car seat. Unlike Ron, Harry had successfully passed a driving test first time without the need for a confunding charm.

Fifteen short minutes later, Harry pulled up outside the small house owned by Ron and Hermione. They were in the process of trying to sell it as they wanted to live somewhere bigger now they had Rose and were planning on having more children in the future. Hermione had suggested they try and move close by to Harry and Ginny though, while not totally against the idea, Ron wasn't over keen on living next door to his little sister again.

When Harry and James were only halfway up Ron's garden path, the door flew open revealing a harassed Ron holding a tiny baby somewhat awkwardly. She appeared to be gurgling happily in her father's arms but Ron didn't look at all happy.

"Thank God you're here!" he cried, though quietly so as not to startle Rose.

"That my Rose!" James shouted, pointing fiercely at the baby. Unfortunately he didn't know about being quiet (Ron blames Ginny) and baby Rose started to wail loudly causing Ron to panic considerably.

He uncertainly jiggled Rose about a bit with no luck and looked up at Harry with a defeated look on his face. "Earlier I just waited for her to stop."

"Let me try." Harry offered, gently removing his niece from Ron's arms and cradling her in his own. James ran towards Ron instantly demanding to be picked up so Ron obliged, still watching his crying daughter and his best friend.

"Come on Rosie." Harry said soothingly as he held her close to his chest and rocked her gently. Gradually her wails turned into little sobs and finally the sound of breathing.

"You make it look really easy Harry." Ron said grumpily.

"You just have to rock her until she falls asleep Ron. It's not rocket science." Harry laughed. "You'll get used to it though, I was completely clueless when James was first born and I had to look after him on my own." He added when Ron looked disheartened.

Little James squirmed to be put down so Ron lowered him gently to the floor where he stood, unsure of what he was allowed to do in his Uncle's house.

"Go back to your Daddy, Rosie." Harry said quietly as he placed the sleeping baby into Ron's arms who had a determined look on his face and tucked her into the crook of his arm. She stirred and started whimpering again as Ron's face fell while he rocked her awkwardly.

"You'll pick it up, honestly. I did." Harry told him encouragingly.

"Yeah, good point. I remember you were terrified of looking after James at first and now you're all like a Superdad or something." Ron said, watching Harry pick up James and swing him onto his hip as Rose continued to cry.

"Definitely not a 'superdad'" Harry laughed and James laughed too because he was copying his dad. "Do you not remember what happened that time I took James to the toy shop?"

"You know Harry I don't think you've ever told me that story." Harry laughed.

"Well it'll make you feel better." So Ron settled Rose into his arm as he sat on the sofa and Harry balanced James on his lap to tell him the story.

_Ginny sneezed loudly and blinked up at Harry. "I think I'm sick." She told him in a groggy voice._

"_I think you're right there Gin." He said, handing her a steaming cup of coffee. A faint wail sounded in the distance and Ginny went to pull herself out of bed._

"_Stay where you are; I'll see to James." Harry commanded and Ginny relaxed._

"_Sounds like someone's awake." Said Harry as he entered his son's room and scooped the toddler up into his arms. "Looks like it's just me and you today Bud." James had stopped crying and was gazing up at his dad happily._

"_Bud." He repeated in a proud voice. James was just learning to speak and he liked to announce the newest words he had learnt very loudly and very frequently._

"_Bud, bud, bud!" little James yelled and Ginny appeared in the doorway holding her head._

"_Want me to take him out of the house?" he asked her sympathetically._

"_That would be great." She replied looking relieved. "Where are you gonna go though? Ron and Hermione's?" _

_Harry thought for a second. "I think I'll take him to the t-o-y shop." He knew James could recognise the word 'toy' and would get very over excited at the mention. _

"_Bud Mummy, bud!" James insisted, indignant that his mother wasn't paying him enough attention._

"_Did Daddy teach you a new word James?" James grinned at Ginny but she threw Harry an annoyed look. _

"_Look, just get some rest today ok? I'll pick up some medi-potion while I'm out with James." James laughed happily from Harry's hip._

_Ginny nodded in agreement as Harry escorted her back to bed assuring her that he and James would be fine without her. After all, Harry had taken care of James alone plenty of times._

_Harry precariously held James' hand tightly in his own as they walked down the cobbled street towards where the muggle toy shop was. James' little face was alive with excitement even though he still didn't know where they were going._

"_James look!" Harry announced and stopped in front of the large window of the toy shop. It contained an impressive display of giant teddy bears which were waving their paws and moving around. Harry looked down to where James stood to see what he thought only to see his son frozen on the pavement, his eyes fixed on the largest bear and an expression of terror in his eyes._

"_Don't like!" he wailed as tears formed in his small brown eyes and he clutched onto Harry's leg, burying his face into his trousers. Harry bent down to his level._

"_James what's wrong? They're just like your teddy bear at home." He attempted to soothe the child; James was resolutely staring in the opposite direction of the shop window._

"_Shall we go inside and look at the toys?" Harry offered, sure this would cheer James up._

"_No! No, no, no, no!" James shouted loudly looking fearfully once again at the shop window before turning away again and demanding to be picked up. Harry obliged, feeling bad that his supposed treat for his son had scared him. _

"_Ok James, where _would_ you like to go?" _

_James thought hard and looked around at the nearby shops. _

"_Home please." Harry sighed._

"See Ron, I'm definitely _not_ a Superdad." Harry ended the story and Ron looked amused.

"Note to self, do not try and impress Rose with oversized bears." He laughed softly.

James smiled happily from where he sat on Harry's lap clutching a cushion he had picked up from Ron and Hermione's sofa.

"Ron." Harry said and Ron gave him a questioning look. "Look." He nodded to baby Rose in Ron's arms and Ron followed his gaze.

"She's asleep. Harry I got her to go to sleep!" he whispered.

"See, told you you could do it." Harry said simply as the doorbell sounded and Ron looked immediately worried that Rose would wake up. She slept on however.

"I'll answer it shall I?" Harry offered as Ron seemed unwilling to move too much in case he woke Rose up. "Come on James."

James trailed after Harry, still clutching the cushion from the sofa. The door opened to reveal Hermione.

"Harry!" she had quite a rushed, harassed look about her. "You weren't at home so I guessed you might be here and thank God you are!"

"Why? What's happened?" he immediately felt worried as the worse possibilities ran rapidly through his mind.

"Ginny was halfway through her interview when her water broke!"

Harry gaped at her. "What? But the baby's not due for another three weeks!"

Hermione shrugged. " She's on the way to St Mungo's right now, you need to go quickly!

"Did I just hear that right?" Ron asked excitedly, appearing in the hallway still holding baby Rose. "Ginny's having the baby now?"

Hermione nodded fiercely and Harry just stared blankly at him.

"Me and Ron'll watch James for you and bring him on later with Rose as well." Hermione said in an efficient voice as if this had been planned all along.

Harry nodded slowly, trying to take everything in. He bent down to James' height.

"James, how would you like to stay here with Uncle Ron and Aunty Hermione and Rose for a little bit while Daddy goes to see Mummy?"

James hugged his newly adopted cushion and glanced up at where Hermione was smiling encouragingly at him. He nodded at Harry and stretched his arms up towards Hermione to be picked up. She did so and he rested his head on her shoulder.

"I reckon he'll be asleep in a minute." Harry told her as he pulled his coat on in an instant and exited the house. "Bye James." He smiled at his half asleep toddler.

Hermione watched him walk up the garden path before apparating at the gate with a faint pop sound, an expression on his face which ranged from excitement to fear.

Ron simply smiled at Hermione as he held their sleeping baby daughter, silently expressing how proud of himself he was.

**Author's Note  
Thanks everyone who's put this on their favourites list! Seriously, it means loads to me how many people have :) Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter... let me know what you thought in a review and anything you'd like to see in future chapters! Til next time...**

**LittleRose13 **


	5. Lily's Lily

_October 20__th__ 2012,  
Potter household. _

The Potter living room was fairly quiet for a Saturday morning as it contained only two occupants; Harry and his eight year old son James. This peace was quickly disrupted by the loud banging of the door opening courtesy of an excitable Lily.

"I'm ready!" Lily cried, rushing into the room and climbing onto the sofa so everyone could see her. She was dressed in a white dress with a puffy skirt and a red sash tied around her waist. There was a matching lily in her hair which she had been completely thrilled about.

"Lily, get down from there." said Harry as he attempted to reason with James and convince him to wear his miniature dress robes.

"I don't want to wear them! They look stupid." James grumbled and folded his arms with a defiant scowl. He had developed quite a disagreeable streak over the recent months and Harry and Ginny were keen to discourage it.

"James." Harry said in a stern voice. "Will you please put them on."

"They don't look stupid, James." Ginny said, entering the room accompanied by Albus who was looking just as sulky as James did.

"Why can't I just wear this?" he gestured to the clothes he was currently wearing which he had been playing in the garden in all day.

"If James gets to wear normal clothes then I do too!" Albus announced. Lily gazed in wonder between her two brothers wondering what all the fuss was about and played with her lily; it fell out of her hair onto the floor.

"James _doesn't_ get to wear normal clothes. You're both wearing dress robes and that's that." Ginny said with a note of finality as Lily picked up her flower and held it out to Harry expectantly.

James started to whine again. Harry interrupted him as he attempted to reattach Lily's flower to her hair.

"Everybody will be wearing them James; it's a wedding. Now please just go upstairs and put them on so we can go." he sighed.

"I hate Uncle Percy for getting married." James muttered, resignedly taking the dress robes and trooping up the stairs.

"I _like_ what I'm wearing." Lily said happily as Harry finally managed to fasten the lily into her hair. "I'm really happy that Uncle Percy is having a wedding and I get to be a bridesmaid and wear my new dress. Do I look pretty Daddy?" she said very quickly.

"You look lovely Lily." Harry responded. She smiled happily and wandered out of the room dreamily.

"I'd better check James is actually putting the dress robes on." Harry told Ginny and he left the room to find James.

"Al, come here. Your hair's all messy at the back." Albus looked up from the toy he was playing with and gave her a disgruntled look as Ginny attempted to flatten his hair.

"Mum! Leave me alone." He squirmed away from her with an offended expression.

"Just stay still for a second please Al." She pleaded with him.

Albus resigned to allowing his mother to flatten his hair at the back despite the fact that he had inherited Harry's hair's habit of permanently sticking up at the back.

"Won't make any difference." Albus muttered, knowing full well that his hair would never lie flat.

"James took my lily!" cried Lily tearfully, running into the room and giving her mother a desperate look. She looked up from Albus' hair and gave the room a quick scan.

"Ok, ok you can have it back. I was just borrowing it." James sighed as he entered the room, offering the lily out to her.

Lily snatched it from his hand immediately and ran to her mother asking her to fix it.

"James, that wasn't a nice thing to do." Ginny said firmly.

"Sorry Lily." James sighed as he tugged at the collar of his dress robes uncomfortably and sat on the end of the sofa with a miserable expression on his face.

Ginny was still pursuing with her attempt to flatten Al's hair when Harry re-entered the living room, saw what she was doing and smiled.

"What's so funny?" Ginny questioned him and Al's face remained in its grumpy expression; his hair still sticking up at all angles at the back.

"Well it's just, that's what my hair always looked like. You didn't seem to have much of a problem with it then." He gave her a suggestive smirk.

Ginny smiled at him and was silent for a moment. She glanced back down at Al's still unruly hair then back up, looking round the room at all her children.

"Ok, is everyone ready to go?" The three children happily ran from the room, excited to see all their cousins at Percy's wedding. (Although James still looked slightly sulky about his outfit.)

"If I remember rightly Gin, I remember you saying you _liked_ my hair not so long ago." He snaked his arms around her from behind and whispered in her ear. Ginny laughed lightly and turned to face him as he caught her lips in a sweet kiss.

"Ergh! Mummy and Daddy are kissing!" a small, excited voice exclaimed from the open doorway. Al was staring at his parents as his siblings joined him in the doorway. Lily clutched at the hem of her bridesmaid's dress nervously and James gave them a stern look.

"Hurry up you two or we're going to be late." He said as he surveyed them, his expression still set in a stern glare. It looked hilarious on his little face and Harry and Ginny exchanged looks of amusement.

"Ok James we're just coming now." Ginny said efficiently, making her way out of the living room to put the children's coats on.

Lily ran forwards to hold her father's hand and she began to pull him out of the front door as quickly as possible.

"Time to go Daddy! I can't be late for being a bridesmaid can I?" she reprimanded him as they followed Al, James and Ginny out of the house to leave for the wedding.

**Author's Note**

**Thanks for reading! This is a little shorter than the last two chapters but I wanted it to end here. I might do a chapter about what happens at Percy's wedding if I have enough ideas to make a whole chapter :L  
Massive thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far and please let me know what you thought of this chapter or if you have any ideas for things you'd like to see in future chapters! Next chapter soon :) oh and next time I update we'll have our 2010 X Factor winner! Who does everyone want to win? Personally I'm rooting for One Direction **

**LittleRose13**


	6. Perfectly Natural

_6th September, 2017  
Hogwarts_

Albus and Rose stopped nervously at the large wooden door and glanced at each other.

"Knock then." Rose whispered agitatedly.

"What? Why do I have to knock? You can knock." Albus replied giving her an annoyed look.

"I told you to knock first. So knock." She said and took his hand then rapped his knuckles sharply on the door.

"Ow!" Albus yelled. "Rose, that hurt!"

"Oh don't be such a baby Al, you only _knocked on a door_."

"Then why didn't _you_ want to do it?"

"Because I-" both children stopped arguing and looked up sharply as the door started to open. A large, bearded face appeared with crinkly, beetle black eyes that lit up.

"Albus, Rose! Yer came." Hagrid smiled widely and stood back to let them in not actually leaving much room in the doorway. They squeezed past and stood awkwardly in the room.

Albus gazed around the hut fondly, spotting a giant bed with a patchwork quilt in the corner and fireplace where a cauldron resided. He suddenly remembered a story about his Dad and Uncle Ron and Aunty Hermione coming to visit Hagrid in their first year only to discover he was hiding a baby dragon illegally. Just as Albus was taking a quick check to confirm the cauldron was dragon egg free today, Fang the boarhound bounded over to greet the guests.

Hagrid was busying himself with making tea and hadn't noticed but Albus stiffened. He _hated_ dogs.

Fang brushed past Rose merely giving her a curious sniff before heading straight for Albus and attempting to lick his face. Albus desperately tried to push Fang off but at the same time not look like he was scared of the dog. But Fang was far too strong for Albus.

"Fang! Fang, ge'down!" Hagrid shouted having finished preparing the tea. He pulled Fang back by his collar and gave Albus an encouraging smile. "Sorry 'bout that Al. He obviously likes yer!"

Albus laughed nervously and took a seat at the scrubbed, wooden table next to Rose where their feet dangled a few inches from the floor.

"How 'ave yer found Hogwarts so far then?" Hagrid asked kindly as he poured tea into bucket sized mugs.

"It's everything I expected and more!" Rose exclaimed happily, her eyes shining. "I think my favourite subject so far is Charms, but I'm positively _hopeless_ at Transfiguration."

"We've only been here for a _week_ Rose." Albus said, laughing at his cousin's words. "And in that time, our class has had one Transfiguration lesson."

"You sound just like yer mother, Rose, I 'ave to admit." Hagrid laughed loudly. "Wha' about you then Al? How's yer firs' week bin?"

Albus thought about his time so far at Hogwarts: being sorted into Gryffindor along with Rose, James pretending not to care that Albus had made Gryffindor, running into Peeves in the corridor and being saved by Victoire who was passing, succeeding in levitating his feather in Charms first time, discovering that the first years had flying lessons starting next week... He tried to think about how he could sum everything up to Hagrid.

"It's been good. Really good." He replied simply.

"I take it yer'll be tryin' out fer the Gryffindor Quidditch team?" Hagrid questioned him.

"I haven't exactly decided yet." He mumbled looking down.

"Oh Al you _have_ to! You're such a good flyer." Rose smiled at him.

Albus felt uncomfortable as Hagrid started talking about how good his parents had both been at Quidditch. The truth was he _loved_ flying, completely loved it and would give anything to be on the house team but it wasn't that simple. Albus thought back to the first time he had been flying.

"_Ready for me to beat you Al?" James asked playfully as he charged past carrying his broomstick. _

"_James slow down a bit!" Harry shouted at his retreating figure as the three made their way to an enclosed field near the house. _

_James obliged by hanging back about two paces. _

"_I've been flying _loads _of times before!" he yelled over his shoulder giving Albus a mischievous grin. _

_They arrived at the field and Albus clutched his new birthday present warily. He had never been flying on a real broomstick before and he had to admit he was a little bit nervous._

"_Lets have a race!" cried James enthusiastically as he proceeded to mount his broom. "Bet I beat you Al!"_

"_Wait, wait. Al hasn't even tried his broom out yet James." Harry responded, firmly grasping the tail of James' broom._

_He turned kindly to Albus and mounted his own broom. "Ok Al, first things first. See if you can mount your broom like this. Keep your feet on the ground though."_

_Albus took a deep breath and swung his leg over the broomstick. He gave a confident smile then turned to his dad to see what to do next._

"_Great Al! Ok so next you're going to grip the front of your broom with your wand hand over your other hand." He adjusted Albus' grip so it was correct then gave his son a wide smile. "Now this is the fun bit. You're going to lean forward ever so slightly and kick off gently from the ground so you start to hover."_

_Albus tried to ignore James who was swooping around the field with apparent ease as he leaned forward and braced himself to kick off. He pushed his trainer hard into the ground and felt himself rise up rapidly._

_But it wasn't the nerve-wracking experience he had expected. In fact, it felt amazing. He didn't care that he was high up or that he was in control of the broomstick None of that mattered now he was up in the air._

"_Brilliant Al!" said Harry and he rose up to join him. "Do you want to try a few circles of the field before landing?"_

"_Yeah!" Albus replied without even having to think about it. He started to follow his father in a slow lap of the field when James sped past him almost spinning him off course._

_Albus shook his head slightly to clear his disorientation then looked at his grinning brother with his face set, he took off. Not knowing where this sudden urge had come from, or even really knowing how to fly, he pursued James until the two were neck and neck then he sped up further and was ahead of his brother._

_Something about being on that broom just felt _natural_ to Albus, like he'd known how to fly his whole life and had just never realised it._

_He turned in mid-air to see a flabbergasted James and an impressed Harry; the latter of whom was flying towards him._

"_Al where did that come from? How did you already know how to fly?" Harry gave him a suspicious glance._

"_I don't know Dad! I just felt like I already knew how to fly." He felt a bit stupid trying to explain it._

"_Well you must be a natural. Did you see that James?" Harry turned to see that his son was hovering a few feet away looking miserable._

"_Oh yes of course I saw perfect Al with his perfectly natural flying ability." James said in a tearful rush before landing abruptly._

"_Is James upset because of me Dad?" Albus asked in a small voice. Harry glanced at him worriedly._

"_Not exactly Al. He's just a little jealous I think, you've done nothing wrong though."_

_James wouldn't speak to Albus or anyone else for the rest of the day. Albus felt so bad for upsetting his brother so much that he made a promise to himself to never fly with James again._

"I probably won't try out, I mean first years never make the house team anyway." Albus met Rose's eyes as he tailed off. They contained an annoyingly knowing glint.

"Is James trying out this year?" she asked.

"Yes. He's been practicing all summer!"

"You know he won't mind if you tried out too? In fact he'd probably like to go flying with his brother." Rose stated matter of factly while Hagrid looked between them slightly confused.

"I'm not sure that he would, I mea-"Albus was cut off with a knock at the door.

"Who could tha' be?" Hagrid muttered as he stood up to get it and nearly knocked Rose's chair over in the process.

"Al I know you love flying and I know you're worried you're going to upset James by trying out." Rose told him kindly.

"Oh 'ello James!" the two turned to see James stood over the threshold.

"You're here Al! I was looking for you in the common room. I just came to remind you that Quidditch trials are tomorrow. Bye Hagrid." James left almost as quickly as he had arrived.

Albus gave Rose an accusing look. "So James just _happened_ to know we were here now? And he just _happened_ to come in and say that when we were talking about Quidditch?"

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about Al." Rose replied smugly. "Thanks for the tea Hagrid" she smiled sweetly and pulled Albus away while he tried to process exactly what had just happened.

**Author's Note**

**Umm so yeah… I'm still alive :L I don't even want to work out the exact number of months it's been since I last posted something :( basically I've been SO busy with school and dancing and stuff and I haven't had any time to update or even write. But I'm back now! Weirdly right when my exams are about to start… I clearly haven't thought this through :L **

**I've missed you guys loads! Seriously… and I had a thought the other day: if I had had a twitter, I could have let you all know where I was and what was going on and everything . So my question to you is… if I had a twitter account, would you guys like to follow me? Let me know and I'll make one!**

**UPDATE: I just went ahead and made one anyway :L follow me 13LittleRoses**

**Oh and please review this and let me know what you thought… I know it's not my best but I just REALLY wanted to get something posted! **

**Lots of love, LittleRose13 xxx**

**PS I've also realised I seriously miss Lily so look out for an Amortentia update soonish! And if you don't know what that is then go read it now please! Pretty please :) **


	7. First Word

_2nd August, 2005_

"I can't believe he's already walking." Ginny said as Harry took her hand and they watched James toddling around the living room exploring.

"According to your mum, we should expect his first word soon." Harry replied , grinning at her.

James stopped in the middle of the carpet and gave them an angelic smile before attempting to climb onto the coffee table with a mischievous smile on his face. "No James." Harry said quickly going to pick him up.

James tugged on the back of Harry's hair and Harry gently removed his hand.

"It'll probably be 'mummy', you know." Ginny said jokingly. "His first word."

"Nah, it'll be 'daddy' cause he likes me best." Harry replied with a glint in his eye. James smiled innocently over Harry's shoulder.

"No, no it definitely won't. James, can you say 'mummy'?" she said slowly and coaxingly to James.

James gurgled in a meaningless way and Ginny looked disappointed.

"Ok James, can you say 'daddy'?" Harry asked confidently.

This time James remained completely silent.

"Well he made more of a noise trying to say mummy, so I think we can safely say that that was his first word" Ginny laughed.

A few days later, most of the Weasley family had gathered at The Burrow for Sunday lunch. Molly had insisted that everyone had to be there and it was important. Harry and Ginny decided this would be a good opportunity to tell the family that Ginny was pregnant again with their second child.

Six year old Victoire came running up to them as they approached the front door, beaming from ear to ear.

"Hello Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny!" she all but shouted, causing the adults to exchange amused looks. "Look at my new wand!" she brandished a stick which nearly hit James in the face. Ginny scooped him up and inspected the wand with interest.

It was a regular stick, evidently found in the garden.

"Where did you get your wand Victoire?" Ginny asked kindly.

"Teddy gave me it. He said I can do real magic with it! But only if I don't tell any of the adults about it." She smiled serenely.

"But Victoire, me and Auntie Ginny are adults." Harry told her, trying not to laugh.

Victoire sighed loudly. "Yes, but I can't tell any of the _other_ adults about it." She replied, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world and skipped off towards the garden waving the stick as she went.

Harry and Ginny exchanged confused looks as they walked up the garden path. James squirmed to be put down.

"Oh James, do you want _mummy_ to put you down now?" she gave him an expectant look as she lowered him to the ground.

He gave her a blank look and went to walk forwards before colliding with Harry's leg. Harry knelt down to his level and gave up with any pretence.

"Can you say 'daddy'?" he asked for what felt like the millionth time. James simply smiled in response.

"Oh they're outside." A voice came from the front door and Harry, Ginny and James turned to see Ron.

"Come in quickly, we have an announcement." Ron hurried them inside trying to conceal the huge smile on his face.

They were greeted by the entire Weasley family who were inside; even Charlie had come over from Romania.

"Me and Hermione have some news." Ron addressed the room at large.

Harry and Ginny glanced at each other worriedly as they were pretty sure they could guess what this news would be.

"I'm having a baby!" Hermione said joyfully.

The room erupted with delight at Hermione's words and Mrs Weasley rushed forward to envelope both of them in a hug.

"What are we going to do now?" Ginny whispered to Harry. They watched Ron and Hermione receiving congratulations, both of them beaming.

"Wait a couple more weeks to tell them." Harry whispered back. "Let them have their day."

Ginny nodded and they went to congratulate Ron and Hermione themselves, James content with playing with a cushion he had picked up from the sofa. He seemed to be quite attached to cushions.

"That's amazing mate." Harry clapped Ron on the back and Ron pulled him into a hug.

"I can't believe it, Harry I'm going to be a father!" he grinned. "How's James by the way?" they both looked over to where James was refusing to share his cushion with two year old Fred.

"He's walking already, and we're expecting his first word any day now."

"Oh yeah, Ginny mentioned about that. She said something about trying to say 'mummy' as much as possible around him." Ron laughed.

"What? No, his first word is going to be 'daddy'." Harry told him seriously.

"Do you think?" Ron asked as James ran towards where they stood, his lip trembling. Apparently Fred had taken his cushion.

Harry picked him up and cuddled him, trying to stop the tears from coming. James seemed happy with resting his head on his father's shoulder; the cushion long forgotten.

"I think James' first word will be 'Ron'." Harry gave him a skeptical look. "Think about it. 'Ron' is only one syllable so it's easier to say, and I'm his favourite uncle." Ron tickled James' foot and made him laugh.

"Can you say 'Ron'?" Harry asked his son half-heartedly. James giggled in response. "See? His first word will be 'daddy'." Harry said with a note of finality.

"No, it's definitely going to be 'mummy'." Ginny said as she walked over with Hermione in tow. Hermione laughed.

"Are you two really arguing over what James' first word will be?" she asked.

"Well I think we can rule out the possibility of it being 'Hermione'." Ron laughed.

James, possibly deciding he wasn't getting enough attention, suddenly pointed fiercely at Ginny from his position in Harry's arms.

"He's going to do it, he's going to say 'mummy'." she gasped.

The four adults all stared at James as he reinforced his point at Ginny.

"Baby!" he cried loudly still pointing. Harry followed his little arm and realised he was pointing at Ginny's stomach. Harry gave Ginny a meaningful look as she too realised what James was referring to.

"Baby, baby, baby!" James repeated each time thrusting his finger towards Ginny's stomach.

Hermione and Ron were watching carefully. "Did he just say 'baby'?" Ron asked, looking from Ginny to Harry.

"He definitely said 'baby'." Hermione put in. "Maybe he's talking about me?" she asked.

"No, he means me." Ginny said quietly, looking sheepish. Ron and Hermione turned to look at her with realisation on their faces.

"Ginny, are you -?" Hermione started.

"Yes." Ginny nodded. "We were going to tell everyone today but then you already did so we thought we should wait a bit. You know, let you have your day."

"But that's brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.

"How did James know though?" Harry asked. "We haven't told him yet." He looked confused.

"Who knows? But that's his first word now I guess." Ginny laughed.

"Maybe we should have James tell the family." Harry joked.

"Baby!" James announced again in case anyone had missed it.

"That's right James." Ginny smiled. "Now, can you say 'mummy'?"

"Or 'daddy'?" Harry added.

Ron and Hermione decided to leave them to it.

**Author's Note**

**Thanks for reading guys! It means so much to me that people are enjoying this story :) and I looked at my story traffic the other day and found out I have readers from all over the world! From something like twenty five different countries. You have no idea how much that means to me! Thankyou :D **

**So leave me a review and let me know what you thought :) sorry this was a short chapter! Oh and let me know where you're from too! I'm interested to know :) **

**If you have twitter, follow me! 13LittleRoses **

**LittleRose13 xxx**

**PS If I can't do it here, where can I do it? Please check out my other story Amortentia! It's a next generation Lily story and I love writing it!**


	8. He Likes A Laugh

"And you don't want to believe everything he tells you about Hogwarts." Harry put in. "He likes a laugh, your brother."

_3__rd__ May, 2012  
Potter Household _

Harry shifted the enormous pile of parchment containing the report he was supposed to be reading to the middle of his desk and sighed at the thought of it. It had gone nine and he knew it would take at least two more hours to finish the report; some of these junior aurors were just a bit _too_ keen.

As he resigned himself to opening the first page, he heard a soft tapping on the door of his office.

"Come in." He called out, slightly confused as to why Ginny was knocking. He knew it was her as the children were already in bed.

The door opened slowly to reveal six year old Albus complete with his beloved stuffed dragon, Gryffindor.

"Hey Al." Harry smiled at his son and gestured for him to come over. "Why are you out of bed?"

"Me and Gryffindor can't sleep." Albus replied simply clutching the dragon tightly.

"You can't sleep? Well that is a bit of a problem seeing as it's now your bedtime." Harry was used to this tactic as he had encountered it many times before when any one of his three children wanted to stay up.

"We can't sleep 'cause Gryffindor's scared." Albus said with a glum look.

Harry pulled Albus onto his lap and took Gryffindor with one hand. He addressed the toy: "Why are you scared Gryffindor?" and Albus giggled as Harry paused waiting for the toy to answer.

"He says he's scared that the Giant Squid from Hogwarts is going to snatch him away from my bed with its long tentacles and turn him into a merperson _forever_!" Albus finished dramatically with a scared expression on his face.

Harry took a moment to process what he had just heard.

"Where did you hear that Al?" he asked, suspecting the answer.

"James told me all about the evil Giant Squid and how all the merpeople in the Hogwarts lake are actually students that didn't turn up to their detentions. Is it true that Professor McGonagall sends three students a _week?_" Albus finished and gave his father a questioning look while hugging Gryffindor tightly.

"Al, how many times have I told you not to listen to James' stories about Hogwarts? None of them are true."

"Really?" Albus asked innocently.

"Really. Anyway, how could James possibly know? He's never been to Hogwarts has he?"

"But he said that Teddy told him all this stuff and he wasn't supposed to tell anyone. I had to give him some of my toys to get him to tell me! Even my Quidditch figures!"

Harry frowned at this revelation and decided he needed to have a talk with his oldest son in the morning.

"Ok Al, I promise that the Giant Squid is not evil, the merpeople living in the lake have always been merpeople and that everything James has ever told you about Hogwarts is not true."

"Are you sure? I don't want to be sent to live in the lake if I'm naughty at Hogwarts." Albus' lip trembled. "I can't even swim properly yet."

"Of _course_ not. I've met the merpeople and they assured me that they definitely aren't Hogwarts miscreants." Ok so the last part wasn't true as Harry didn't speak Mermish but the rest was.

"You've met the merpeople?" Albus asked in awe.

"Yep, when I was in my fourth year." Harry smiled at his son who looked excited and eager to ask more questions.

"But what about the man-eating giants who live in the forest? James said they sometimes roam into the Hogwarts grounds and squash anyone who's outside." Albus was looking frightened again.

"Man-eating giants? Where does James get these silly stories from?" Harry said tickling Albus. Albus laughed in response. "There aren't any giants in the Forbidden Forest because they like to live in huge valleys where they have more space. And I'm pretty sure giants don't eat people anyway."

"So there's no giants in the forest?"

"None at all." Anymore. Harry added the last bit in his head as a distant echo of 'HAGGER!' came back to him.

"I guess they got scared off by the massive snake didn't they?" Albus asked quietly looking down at the floor and shivering. He had been completely terrified of the snakes when the family went to a muggle zoo for the day. (Although Harry swears he recognises the Brazilian Boa Constrictor there)

"There's a bit of a theme occurring here isn't there? I promise there are no massive snakes at Hogwarts either." Albus looked up, relieved. "Is there anything else James has told you about Hogwarts?"

Albus thought for a moment as he fingered the soft spines on Gryffindor's tail and leaned into Harry.

"Yes! He told me that there's a secret passageway that leads from Hogwarts all the way to that sweet shop we went to at Christmas in Hogsmeade!"

Harry thought for a moment about that last one before pulling Albus close to him.

"Can you keep a secret?" he whispered into Albus' ear and Albus nodded fiercely. "That one _is_ true. But don't tell James yeah? Let's leave him thinking it's just a story he made up."

Albus gave his father a wide smile before he gave in to an enormous yawn.

"So do you think you and Gryffindor will be able to sleep now?" Harry asked as he stood up and lifted Albus onto his hip.

Albus responded with a sleepy nod as Harry started to carry him upstairs towards his bedroom however, when they were halfway up, his head jerked up.

"Dad? How do _you_ know about the secret passage?" he asked casually.

"Well it was all thanks to some friends of mine actually who told me about it." Harry replied as they arrived at Albus' room.

"Uncle Ron and Auntie Hermione?"

"No, no it was some different friends. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs their names were."

Albus looked awestruck as Harry carefully pulled the duvet over his son and sat on the edge of his bed.

"They sound _cool_!" was his response.

Harry was silent for a second before giving Albus a sly grin. "You mean, cooler than Ron and Hermione?"

Albus started to protest but Harry interrupted him. "I'll have to tell them that you said they weren't cool Albus." He pretended to be cross but Albus laughed.

"Gryffindor wants to kiss you goodnight Dad." Albus said as he thrust his toy dragon into Harry's face.

"Ok, goodnight Gryffindor." He pretended to kiss the toy back before tucking him in next to Albus. "And goodnight Al." he added kissing Albus on the forehead too.

"Night Dad." He murmured as sleep took over.

Harry wondered if he had made a mistake by telling Albus about the secret passageway. He thought this over for a minute before deciding it had been a good decision; after all, third year wouldn't have been anywhere near as fun without that one eyed witch and her humpback.

**Author's Note**

**Wow I'm getting good with Family Life updates! This is one of a few I have planned that are based on quotes from the epilogue. Originally I was going to do a whole separate story for them but then I decided that was a bit pointless so they're staying here :L **

**Thanks for reading! What did you think? Let me know in a review! And what would you like to see in the next chapter? I have a load of unorganised ideas so if I know what you guys want to read next I can focus on that. Should I make one of those poll things on my profile for it? Let me know :)**

**If you have twitter, follow me! 13LittleRoses**

**LittleRose13 xxx**


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